Reply to Legit, but dumb question about MoCo (property values & housing)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So a lot of the DCUM posters come from a very different SES than me. I'm not married, I don't own a home, I'm not a political centrist, I don't make six figures, and I have a tight budget with only a couple hundred a month put away in savings (and I have to really try) with a boatload of student loan debt.

I lean quite left politically but am also a pragmatist who would vote in my own interests. I almost sat out the last County Executive election because I hated all the candidates. I like Elrich on a lot of things but heard that he was terrible on housing, which is important for me. I've changed my mind though. For a while I bought the argument that more housing supply would lower costs, and people like Elrich are NIMBYs who don't allow more housing to be built since wealthy homeowners are afraid it would lower their property values. Now I am more cynical about housing policy. I don't believe the YIMBY or "filtering" model works either (look up "filtering" and housing if you aren't familiar with the term), while it is true that not building anything at all doesn't help either unless there is county-wide rent control which is not happening, even with Elrich in charge.

I just want to be able to own a home. My partner and I don't want to move into each other's places (our respective places are too small) and if we move in together, we'd like to own. But home prices are astronomical.

Most of y'all on DCUM seem to talk about this from the other side of the white picket fence, so to speak, and would like to keep your property values up. (I see this attitude in your discussions about schools especially, and about the County's alleged downward economic spiral).

If you want to buy an uninhabitable house for $1, move to detroit. You probably won't be making $70,000 per year. Do folks not get this? I did not vote for Elrich, because I think we need to be more business friendly in this county (since we like our social and recreational services), but, it is disingenuous to say you can't get into the property market in MoCo on a $140,000 HHI. Post your desired mortgage payment and housing wants on the real estate board. See where folks lead you. I'm not really trying to beat up on you OP. I can tell your thoughtful and frustrated. This area has always been expensive. I have lived in the close-in DC area for almost 30 years now. I've never been able to afford to live alone. Went from having roommates to getting married. Your feelings of frustration have been felt by many over the years.

My dumb question is this: If Marc Elrich is as bad as you say he is, and is leading the County in a downward economic spiral and kicking out businesses, will home prices go down? Could it benefit someone like me? I like Montgomery County and I'd like to to be my forever home, I don't want to have to go hunt for affordable housing in some far flung place that's far away from my friends and my community and my favorite places. Could Elrich and his policies ultimately make MoCo less elitist and attractive to rich yuppies, and when the Boomers die off, will their homes be affordable for people like us (we make $70K a piece, and I have massive student loan debt). Kind of like how people can buy homes for dirt cheap in Detroit?

By the way - this should speak to you about what our economic system has come to. Young people have to resort to gaming the system and rooting for capitalism to fail in order to have the basic things to live, since middle class jobs no longer pay for middle class lifestyles. [/quote][/quote]

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